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100:1 Crack/powder ratio: Cannot replace ratio, but can vary from GL based on case-specific reasons

By Candace Hom, Melinda Ghilardi, Nancy Rimmer, Sarah Gannett, Renee Pietropaolo and Tieffa Harper

In US v. Ricks, Nos. 05-4832, 4833 (3d Cir. 7/20/07), the Circuit followed its prior decision in US v. Gunter, 462 F.3d 237 (3d Cir. 2006), in ruling that although a district court can consider the 100:1 crack/powder differential in the guidelines and find the differential is "too vast," it may not categorically reject the ratio and substitute its own. Instead, in varying from the guideline range for crack cocaine, the court must give reasons for why the ratio is too harsh "when applied to the defendant." In doing so, the district court may draw on the reports of the Sentencing Commission finding that the 100:1 ratio treats crack offenses too severely.On its surface, the Ricks decision may seem very straightforward: The district court judge found that the 100:1 ratio was too severe, based on the reports of the Sentencing Commission, and it sentenced instead based on the 20:1 ratio that the Sentencing Commission recommended...continue to full post

Full post as published by Third Circuit Blog on July 23, 2007 (boomark / email).